You start here with Phil Jackson, who had a very good week that might be followed by a bad one if Carmelo Anthony leaves town: If he can figure things out well enough to get rid of Tyson Chandler, who had to go, and get a much better point guard than he had, and actually get the equivalent of a first-round draft choice in Cleanthony Early, he can figure things out with Anthony whether he has to give him a max deal or not.

Shortly after 11 p.m. on Thursday inside Brooklyn’s 40/40 Club, a group of 15 family members and friends celebrated the Knicks’ selection of former Wichita State small forward Cleanthony Early with the No. 34 pick of the NBA draftAt the same time, more than 1,300 miles west in Wichita, Greg Heiar, the Wichita State assistant coach who recruited Early from a Division III junior college in Loch Sheldrake, N.Y., processed the pick.

38 comments on “Knicks Morning News (2014.06.29)”

Phil Jackson wants the Knicks to be the first or the last team to meet with Carmelo Anthony this week so they can leave an impression on him.

There go the fallacies of human memory again…someone’s gotta be brave enough to tell Phil he’s doing it all wrong. Man up.

In all seriousness Phil should most definitely prefer to have the decency bias (last visit) advantage since Melo already knows how he fit with the Knicks over the past two point five years. Reasoning follows: Let him flirt with other teams, dream of how they are all exciting and different, let him imagine it there, then finally pull back the curtain on how exactly the knicks will be systematically approaching basketball and developing talent for the next half decade, and most importantly herald him as the Shepard and most utilized and visible piece of this whole thing…baby you got a stew going!

New poster so go easy on me when I’m inevitably right about Bonzi Wells making an excellent NBA head coach. Thanks in advance!

In the best-case scenario, Pau rebounds to near all-star form, Amare plays like he did at the end of last year in 25 mpg, Odom gives us quality minutes as a point forward, Melo adapts to the triangle, Dalembert protects the rim, etc.

Worst case scenario: we see lots of the young guys and have a plan for 2015 when Amare and Bargs come off the books.

Agreed, that is why I said near all-star form rather than one of the 2 the best PF-Cs in the NBA. Sort of like how Garnett was very effective at age 34 even though nowhere near the player he was in his prime.

I’m just procrastinating re: household chores. We all know that Phil is going to wheel and deal some more.

Interesting, Pau actually averaged more rebounds and blocks per 36 last year than in 2008-09. However, he averaged 1 more made FG on 4 more attempts, killing his shooting efficiency. This is in line with my contention that there is a theoretical “cap” on the amount of efficient shots that a particular player can take, and going above that cap results in a precipitous drop-off in efficiency.

Anyway, on a $5 million or less per deal, he’d be a great asset. The guy has made over $150 million in his career, maybe he wants to give something back to Phil and Derek take a risk on becoming a late-career savior in NYC.

I think it’s a given that we cut Dalembert, and hopefully JR is shown the door.
Not sure Melo wants to play pf, although I’m for that.
I would roll with a Calderon/ Shump backcourt and a Melo / Pau frontcourt. Maybe get a Trevor Ariza type as your 3. Not very good defensive team, but fun to watch at least.

Yeah Pau is not gonna post a .220 WS/48 but the real question is whether he could play at .150 WS/48 level. The last couple of seasons he has maintained his career passing/rebounding/turnover/blocking rates. However, his TS%/eFG and free throw rate have dropped sharply. Much of that probably could be attributed to how he was being used by D’Antoni; if you’re not posting up as much, you’re probably not gonna get to the free throw line as much.

I hope Phil during the courtship of Pau gets a good indication of the probability his brother would also sign here. Might be a bit awkward conversation – like asking a woman who’s very interested in you about the availability of her best friend.

I wonder whether Phil’s relationship with the Buss gal has any bearing on the Gasol situation. It would seem like an insane coup to “steal” Gasol on a less than $5 mill deal, leaving Lakers with nothing to show for a guy who is a somewhat valuable asset. Yet the fact that this is a story suggests that something is in the works, that’s why I’m curious about a sign-and-trade. What about a 3-way deal between Knicks, Minny and Lakers where Lakers get Love and a PG and dump Nash, Knicks get Gasol and dump Bargnani, and Minny gets young pieces, cash and draft picks?

If you manage to snag Gasol and keep Melo, a Calderon, Shump, Melo, Gasol, Dalembert starting 5 is our best bet and could do some real damage with Prigioni, Stat, and THJr/JR backing them up. That team is good enough to win a playoff series in the EC and even scare the Pacers/Bulls in the 2nd round.

1. Restructure contracts so Bosh and Wade take large pay cuts, and use the savings to sign Lowry
2. Restructure contracts so Bosh and Wade take smaller pay cuts, get below the luxury tax and use MLE and BAE to fill out roster

It seems like Riley is really boxed in by this whole “Big 3″ thing. The smart play would be to break up the Big 3 and try to bring in an impact big man. The Heat are an awful rebounding team and they are not a great defensive team either. I think LeBron would be making a mistake going back there, and would probably have an easier, more conventional path to a ring pairing up with a good big man like Howard. Houston would probably be a top 5 offense, top 5 defense with a LeBron-Howard-Harden core.

I think there’s something to be said, though, for LeBron staying in the East. Stay in the East and his odds of making the finals every year are very good. Go West, and his path to the finals just got a helluva lot harder.

Now, staying in the East means he’ll have to play a West team at some point, but beating one of them would be easier than beating 3 of them, or so I would imagine.

Also, if LeBron does go West we can pretty much write off anything that happens in the East as meaningful in any way. The West would be the only conference worth anything, and that would be bad for the league. Not that that should matter to LeBron, but it matters to me at least.

At this point the East’s weakness is so well known that it’s a PR hit for Lebron to stay there. He’s already won his rings “cheaply” by some people’s standards. I don’t think he adds much to his legacy if he has a free ride to the finals every year and then occassionally wins the coin flip.

Now, creating another supergroup in the West has its own set of problems. Less likely to win it all, “jumping ship” yet again, etc etc. But come playoff time, there will be no excuses if they pull it off. If he goes out West, there might start to be talk of “strongest conference, top to bottom, of all time”

If I understand the Triangle Offense, the players who “fit in the system” have the ability to (1) dribble, (2) pass and (3) shoot. The goal of the offense is to give the ball to players in a position to be an offensive threat. Tyson Chandler (for example) was a bad fit for the system because he could not command defensive attention when he caught the ball 15′ from the basket.

Another way to not “fit in the system” is to stop the ball from moving. Like SSOL, the Triangle demands that offensive players quickly either (1) dribble drive, (2) shoot or (3) pass. The idea is to keep probing the defense to find the man who is in best position to score. If you are that man, you must shoot or drive. If you are not that man, you must pass.

Of course, BCT has never run a pure Triangle. Both MJ and Kobe often broke the offense and held the ball while they prepared to attack off of the dribble.

What an intriguing summer. Woj now reporting that Phoenix will be pitching a Big 4 of Bron/Melo/Dragic/Bledsoe. This won’t happen and it sort of makes you feel sorry for a well-managed organization like the Suns. A couple of years ago, Morey was active on Reddit and was asked if he was frustrated at constantly losing out to magnet locations like Los Angeles. He talks about that and much more (e.g., McGrady was better player than Kobe in their primes). Here’s link if interested:

What an intriguing summer. Woj now reporting that Phoenix will be pitching a Big 4 of Bron/Melo/Dragic/Bledsoe. This won’t happen and it sort of makes you feel sorry for a well-managed organization like the Suns.

In a vacuum, this is really a shame. Anyway, I don’t know why, but with every minute passing I’m more and more convinced than Melo will stay, just as Brian says. I think that, at the end of the day, nothing will change (apart from that ridiculous Kidd boy, well that man is really nuts).

This Melo/Lebron to Phoenix thing is obviously an NBA2k15 scenario only, but I never understood why Phoenix hasn’t gotten notice as a possible Melo destination. They have a perfect team for his skill set and style of play, smart guys running the organization, and a ton of young assets they could trade to get more win-now help. Why wouldn’t they be interested in each other?

I do not think anyone outside of CAA or MSG can know what Carmelo is going to do, because all of these questions are open:

10. What is the Knicks’ final offer to Carmelo Anthony?

9. What Carmelo’s order of preference on teams, if all $$$ were equal?

8. Who are the players (if any) that Carmelo particularly wants as teammates?

7. Who are the players (if any) that Carmelo particularly wants to avoid?

6. What does Carmelo expect he would earn during the 2018-19 season if he does not sign with the Knicks? The big difference between the Knicks max of 5/129 and other teams’ max of 4/96 is the $29 million that the Knicks can give in 2018-19. That is a blank spot for every other team.

5. If Carmelo is not willing to take the Knicks’ best offer, are the Knicks willing to participate in a S&T?

4. What are the best offers that the Bulls/Rockets/Mavs/etc are willing to make?

3. What are those teams willing to do to clear salary cap space?

2. What are those teams willing to send out in a S&T?

1. If Carmelo is willing to take a deal that is contingent on a S&T, and the Knicks will not agree to it, will Carmelo (a) take less to go to his preferred new team, (b) try to engineer a S&T for another team or (c) take the Knicks’ offer?

I didn’t know he was flying to them. There are many ways you can take that. Does he want to get the process over with quickly? Interesting that he is doing the flying around and not letting teams come to him or his agents.

Side note: Looks like ATL will save themselves $6m by trading lou williams for salmons who’s contract is only partially guaranteed. Would be nice if the Knicks could trade Bargs to Orlando for Jameer(partial contract).

So Melo is meeting with the Bulls at 12:01 AM on Tuesday (26 hours from now.) What”s the big hurry?

You’re joking, right? Dolan and JR must be in a panic and may resort to extreme tactics to keep him. Chicago’s a dangerous city especially at that hour…..Hmm…JR might go Brandon Jennings on him: “Might call some of my Michigan Avenue homies an put #Chicago on smash for a min! #”

Yes, Bargs will stay here because he’s nearly untradeable (maybe you could trade him, but it would certainly be for a player with a much longer contract – for example, I think Detroit would be open to a Bargnani + two second round picks + whomever fits the bill, probably even JR, for Josh Smith. But would you do it? I wouldn’t).